


Daisies

by llwrites



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Behind the Scenes, Dialogue Heavy, Extended Metaphors, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Headcanon, Interviews, M/M, Secret Relationship, Song Lyrics, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 01:54:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10957251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llwrites/pseuds/llwrites
Summary: This Woman interview with Susan Baker: on the heels of surprise news of her long-term engagement to her former bandmate, David Arlo, following the upheaval at Cray-Z Records that led to massive backlash across much of the music industry, the acclaimed singer, songwriter, and actress sits down with us in an exclusive tell-all about life, love, and lyrics.





	Daisies

**Author's Note:**

> OK so this was an idea that wouldn't leave me alone and inspired my first real fiction writing in years and my first work on here. Not beta'd or Brit-picked; all mistakes are mine. 
> 
> *warning for discussions of canon-type fake relationships and evil contracts

**Overcoming the Past and Facing a Bold New Future: Susan Baker’s Untold Story**

_This Woman interview with Susan Baker: on the heels of surprise news of her long-term engagement to her former bandmate, David Arlo, following the upheaval at Cray-Z Records that led to massive backlash across much of the music industry, the acclaimed singer, songwriter, and actress sits down with us in an exclusive tell-all about life, love, and lyrics._

**This Woman:** Thank you for agreeing to speak with us and tell us your story in your own words. We now understand that that’s something that has been limited in the past, correct?

**Susan Baker** : Hi and thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. To answer your question, yes, yes it has. I did my best with the limits we had over the years, and especially with my first solo venture. Had to get pretty creative sometimes, but I know some fans picked up on some things.

**TW:** Ah yes, the Daisies. How did that name come about, anyways?

**SB:** Well everyone called me Susie even though my name is Susan, and of course he's David, so we became Dasie and our fans called themselves Daisies like the flower. David made an offhand comment once about how he was buzzing, and somehow that snowballed into the army of bees thing with our fans spreading information back and forth like worker bees spreading pollen. David can explain it better, but it was all so nice having a mascot like that. It even became inspiration for one of my later tattoos. We decided it would be too obvious for me to get a Daisy tattoo, but I got my queen bee instead. (Smirks)

**TW:** And then David got a crown, right?

**SB:** Yes. We weren’t all that subtle about our tattoos, were we? (Laughs)

**TW:** Hindsight’s 20/20, I suppose.

**SB:** Very true.

**TW:** Can you tell us more about your first solo album?

**SB:** The album was my chance to tell my story my way. I knew I still had to be rather covert about it, so on the surface I had to play management’s game. I drew from what I loved growing up...drew on that sound...and some of the lyrics...but I tried to make it my own. I tried to tell two stories at once...it really wasn't easy, but I had a lot of good people helping me, and that really meant the world to me. I have trouble getting to the place where I can be truly honest and raw with people, but I think I managed, and I'm really happy about it. I know not everyone will get the second layer there, but I hope they like it and I wouldn't want to ruin anyone's idea of what the song means to them. For me, it was very therapeutic, so even if people don't like it, I'm glad to have had that experience.

**TW:** You did always say it was therapeutic for you. Can you delve into that more now that some things have come out about that time?

**SB:** Ummm sure.

**TW:** Like now we know that you were actually in a relationship with your band member, David, since the beginning.

**SB:** Yes, we were. Still are. Going strong. (Smiles) We met and just clicked. I think we both just knew. I tried to play hard to get but it didn't last. (Giggles). We just made sense. Always. So many things happened to pull us apart, and it nearly worked a few times, but at the end of the day, we wanted to be together. I just couldn't imagine not being with him, and it hurt us so much to be apart.

**TW:** But management didn't like your relationship.

**SB:** No, no they did not. We were all supposed to be young and hot and available. It wasn't good PR to have us happily coupled up. Couldn't have us be completely off the market like that.

**TW:** But you had other PR relationships, right?

**SB:** Yes, we found out our contracts included stunts like that. My first one was some man nearly twice my age when I was technically underage. Apparently making me into some Lolita-esque wet dream was preferential to allowing me to have a boyfriend in the band.

**TW:** You hint at that in the album, the Lolita aspect.

**SB:** Yeah...that one didn't go exactly as planned… somehow a story came out that I had a one-night stand with this 17-yr-old boy and that was my inspiration for some lyrics. Of course everyone was congratulating him and calling me a cougar like it was something great. Not that there was any great outrage when it was me, a 17-yr-old girl linked with a 32-yr-old man...I had hoped the world had woken up a little since then, but yeah… and then of course that song had to be the next single. Any press is good press, right?

**TW:** There were several others PR relationships after that, right, for you and for David?

**SB:** Yes, I've lost count, truly. David had fewer, but they stuck him with horrible women who were nasty and disrespectful to both of us - telling us life wasn't some romantic comedy- like we didn't know. They were just looking for their 15 minutes of fame or hoping to boost their sad careers, generally.

**TW:** You got back at them though in the album, did you not?

**SB:** Umm well yes they may have popped in there a bit. (Winks)

**TW:** Arguably your most famous PR boyfriend seemed to have been an inspiration too, is that right?

**SB:** Well, yes and no. That relationship was a great source of pain for us, which comes up a bit in the songs. It was very frustrating because he was so famous and used me and us so well...we had no idea the legs that story would have, and it was supposed to be simple quick mutual PR with this really nice guy...or at least that's how it was advertised...I don't really want to get into it further, but it was very difficult and eye-opening and I'll leave it there.

**TW:** You wrote frequently about David and your relationship, both while you were in the band together, and then solo.

**SB:** Yes, we were inspiration for each other a lot. (Laughs) The Daisies may not want to hear this, but we did sometimes use each other as inspiration for the angsty “break-up” type songs as well as the love songs. Sometimes it was easier to fight and get the anger out through songwriting than to try to confront each other. Plus we had plenty of inspiration besides ourselves with all the other relationships we witnessed. We even said it once in a song we wrote together, but most people didn't think it was about us. (Shrugs)

**TW:** Isn't that one of the only songs you wrote together, but that rumor said you wrote in separate rooms because you couldn't stand to be together?

**SB:** Ha, yeah, it is. We actually wrote most of it in bed together after we had to dodge security and fans yet again. We got pretty good at that. (Laughs)

**TW:** So you had to evade your own security in order to be together because no one could see you together?

**SB:** Sometimes, yeah. We had some people on staff who helped us out, and I think everyone knew, really, but everyone had NDA’s and salaries to worry about. We had to be so careful to not be seen by the wrong people, and we were too considerate and aware of each other that they wouldn't even let us touch or look at each other in public.

**TW:** That had to have been hard.

**SB:** Yes, it was honestly the most difficult thing I've had to do. It felt like someone ripped away half of me and I was expected to pretend like everything was fine and like I wasn't bleeding everywhere. I couldn't be natural, be me, without him. I acted out a bit, and just plain learned to act, but it was so hard. I just wanted to be able to smile at my boyfriend or even stand near him. It went against all of my instincts to try to ignore him and made me miserable. I slipped into my stage persona as much as I could. I think I thought that if I was a good girl and did what they wanted, maybe I could get some leverage to get a bit of what I wanted too. It didn't work. It backfired a bit, truly, because I proved that they could get me to act how they wanted, and of course they used that against us.

**TW:** Some people say that situation inspired some of the album. Is that true?

**SB:** Yes. One song everyone thought was about this bad boy type that I wanted but couldn't “bring home to mother”....really, it was about me and my relationships. Kind of a play on my innocent side who was in a committed loving relationship vs the drama queen badass girl who everyone wanted. And kinda a play on the idea that just because I was in a committed relationship that we were some boring old married couple. We, uh, weren't as innocent as everyone wanted to think. Actually anyone who was around us for very long can probably attest to that. (Laughs) But everyone wanted me to be this stereotypical rocker chick with the cool tattoos and perfect hair. It was fun to be her sometimes, and easy to hide behind her sometimes when I just wanted to run away screaming, but it wasn't really me.

**TW:** You've talked a few times about how being on stage was the greatest feeling in the world.

**SB:** Yeah. It really is better than any drug. The rush of having all that energy directed at you… it's addictive.

**TW:** Some people thought you wrote about other addictions in your songs.

**SB:** Yeah, that was mostly just metaphor. When the break happened, we suddenly went from go go go to no major plans, and it was uh…quite the adjustment. The album opens and closes with my experience with that. I missed the stage, and got to see how people suddenly dropped out of your life when you were no longer so much in the spotlight...it was a wake up call of sorts for a lot of things, being sort-of out of the industry for a bit. But it was good, ultimately. We got a chance to step back and clear our heads and see who was still there when the dust settled.

**TW:** One of the now revealed stunts started during that time, during the hiatus before the solo projects began. Would you be willing to talk about the stunt that involved the child that turned out not to be David's?

**SB:** Umm...I don't really want to but I want people to know the full story, so, I guess. (Clears throat) That was our worst nightmare. The most personal attack on us...on me. Management knew we wanted children. Knew I couldn't have any. They threatened me once with a fake pregnancy and backed off when I broke down. Then they turned around and created this one night stand nightmare pregnancy. It just got worse and worse. We thought it was going be resolved before there ever could have been a child. We didn't think they'd go so far as to involve an actual child. Who could be that monstrous? And then the child was born and forced to become a prop in the whole debacle. And there was nothing we could do to fight it. I can't reveal all the details, but our hands were tied. All we could do was try to get the message out that it wasn't real. David never cheated on me. He would have never had a child that wasn't ours. (Voice breaks) Sorry, I just need a moment…(walks off for several minutes) I'm sorry. I...it's still really hard…our first parenting experience wasn't supposed to be like that. It wasn't real, but it was because that's how the public saw it? I just never wanted that for David. He was forced into acting in a way that he would never just to not succumb to their will. He was so strong. I couldn't do it. I refused to talk about any of it by threatening to give it all away if I did. (Swallows) But now we are looking into adopting now that we can, so I try to keep all that ugliness in the past.

**TW:** Adopting?

**SB:** Yes, we want kids right away. We always have, even when we were younger. We’ve been lucky enough to meet so many very special children over the years. We are so excited to finally be able to grow our family.

**TW:** Yes, I can imagine with David as their father, they're going to be very loved and very spoiled.

**SB:** (Laughs) Thank you. That is very true. We can’t wait.

**TW:** OK, so I have to ask. Now that everything is out there and you’re free of old contracts, do you see the band getting back together?

**SB:** Well, first of all, even as separate acts, we’ve always been together. Always. And, I think I’ll leave you in suspense except to say that we’re really excited about the future. (Smiles)

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Alright, I see where you got the names, you sap. But Daisies??? You do talk some shit, even on paper.

Well I had to be creative, didn't I? Plus it's like a little homage to my favorite girl.

Don't let the others hear you say that.

She's your favorite, too.

Shhhh!

Oh should I say it louder?

Don't you dare! You do and I'm never kissing you again!

Please. You say that like you've ever been able to resist these red lips.

Don't give me that look.

(Pouting and trying not to laugh)

Really though, babe- you sure about this?

Yeah... I don't think they can do anything about it even if someone makes the connection. No one is going to believe some teenage girl posting stories on the internet, right?

Yeah. Just habit, I guess.

I almost wish someone would figure it all out and blow it wide open.

Well, you never know. This could help. You never know who might read it and have their eyes opened. 

Partners in crime?

Always. Dream team?

Always. I love you.

I love you more.

Not possible.

Call it even?

Ok. Ok...hitting publish...

Good. Now get over here baby cakes.

If you insist, sweetcheeks.

Oii! I thought I was sweet creature now.

You're just sweet. My sweet.

There you go back to talking shite.

Guess you'd better shut me up then…

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed! As I said, this is my first fic, so hopefully it's not too horrible. I'm sorry it's so freaking dialogue-heavy, but that was a stylistic choice or at least that's what I'm telling myself. 
> 
> I was partly inspired by the incredible closing argument in the movie A Time to Kill, which has always inspired me to try to see things from someone else's perspective before I pass judgement. (please review for trigger warnings before you go watch if you haven't/are curious) 
> 
> Just for the record: I know nothing, I own nothing, and this is all fiction and just my personal headcanons. Please respect the fourth wall. I do not condone @ing anyone on my behalf or stemming from anything I have written. 
> 
> Please also note: I don't feel comfortable allowing translations on this work. 
> 
> Please feel free to comment here or come say hi on Tumblr. I'm @roseandbee and my asks are open unless y'all decide to be nasty. :) 
> 
> Thank you! ~Rose


End file.
